Stafford is proving to be durable and reliable

Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford (9) celebrates scoring on a 1-yard touchdown run against the Dallas Cowboys in the fourth quarter of an NFL football game in Detroit, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2013. (AP Photo/Rick Osentoski)

Matthew Stafford will start his 41st straight game on Sunday in Chicago in a huge divisional match-up between two 5-3 teams.

With 287 passing yards against the Bears, the Detroit Lions quarterback will set the franchise record for most passing yards in Lions’ history, beating Bobby Layne.

Stafford is the only fully healthy NFC North quarterback.

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Bears’ quarterback Jay Cutler, who missed Monday night’s win with a groin injury, is expected to start but is unlikely to be 100 percent.

Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers is out for four to six weeks with a broken collarbone and Minnesota’s Christian Ponder dislocated his left shoulder Thursday night.

It’s not easy being a quarterback in the black-and-blue division.

Stafford knows that well. In his rookie season he rose from the turf, pushed the medical staff out of the way and went back in the game to throw the game-winner over the Cleveland Browns with no time left.

“This is the kind of stuff that endears you to a city,’’ Dan Miller said on the radio call.

After that grueling hit by C.J. Mosley (now his teammate) that slammed his left non-throwing shoulder into the turf, there should have be no question about Stafford’s toughness.

None. But there was.

In his second season Stafford was called a “china doll” by his teammate Zack Follett.

It was an insensitive and wrong at the time even though Stafford played in just 13 games his first two seasons.

The Lions quarterback defines tough. It’s not that he has not been injured, it’s that he’s been able to play through it.

“(Durability) was something that honestly, in my mind, wasn’t an issue for me personally,’’ Stafford said. “I didn’t like missing games the first two seasons, but it was something that I never really experienced and didn’t have a lot of history with, so I knew it would get back to normal soon enough.

“I feel like it’s gotten that way. I’ve played through some stuff to make sure that I stay on the field. It’s something I take I pride in for sure, being able to be out there every Sunday,’’ Stafford said.

His long-term health was never a worry for Lions coach Jim Schwartz.

“People kept saying that he was injury prone or things like that. His injuries weren’t things that he was going to carry forward,’’ Schwartz said. “I think that’s a big difference between a guy that has an injury that sort of keeps on bother somebody, whether it’s a troublesome knee, shoulder, back, ankle or anything else. The injuries that he had, we felt very confident would heal up and he would be able to put behind him.’’

While the Lions have a solid backup in Shaun Hill, they’re a better team with Stafford on the field.

His health has come into focus with injuries to Cutler and Rodgers. Chicago’s Shea McClellin (who is doubtful for Sunday’s game with a hamstring injury) slammed Rodgers’ left non-throwing shoulder into the turf on Monday night. Perfectly legal and perfectly brutal too.

“I was in the same (situation). They have you pinned and they put all their weight on you and it’s tough,’’ Stafford said. “It’s kind of luck of the draw and Aaron Rodgers has done a great job. Really all of his career at being pretty durable. I think he’s only missed a game or two maybe in his career since he’s been starting there. It happens.’’

Stafford has a solid offensive line helping keep him upright this season.

“He does help us out too, it’s not just we’re protecting him, we do protect him but he does get rid of the ball quick at times,’’ center Dominic Raiola said. “There is a sense of pride in keeping him upright and healthy.’’

Stafford’s experience — this is his fifth season — helps too.

“He works very hard at conditioning and staying healthy,’’ Schwartz said. “You can only avoid so many things, but it’s important for him. He hasn’t been 100-percent healthy in those 40 games. He has had some games where he has been nicked up. He has had some fingers, hamstrings, knees and different things like that, but part of this game is being available on Sunday. I think he had done a very good job with dealing with the things that have come up and being available on Sunday.”

Forty-one Sundays and counting.

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